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Donighi Morae
Donighi Morae (born in 95 BPC, died in 35 BPC), was the founding father of the Morae Crime Family, which in turn founded the Knights of the Omerta. Metagame Information Creator/Player: Regis Welch/Has never been played, only referenced. Creative Circumstance: Potential Nonplayer Character Moral Stance: Villain Overview Like all criminal organizations, the Knights of the Omerta had to have a beginning, so the character of Donighi Morae, and his subsequent story, was invented to fill this role. A pastiche of various crime boss archetypes, Donighi probably draws most heavily from the character of Rotti Largo in Repo! The Genetic Opera. Appearance At the time he first appeared in history, Donighi was a moderately tall and stout man with a red face and short, graying hair. He wore the simple clothes of a steel worker and had a perpetually defeated expression as he endured the unendurable. By the time of his death, the crime boss Donighi Morae was much better dressed, preferring black and red to symbolize the dirt and blood of the common man. His hair he kept short but for a rat tail in back, and his face showed a distinct dignity, although the eyes were a cold blue. Humble Origins Donighi grew up the son of poor immigrants that migrated to Ash City in an unknown year. He claimed that his father and his father's father worked in the "dirty, rotten factories", which would indicate he was a third generation citizen of the city. By age 12, Morae was working in the steel mills to make enough money to help support his family. It was a thankless, back-breaking job. As Donighi himself was later quoted, :"They worked us from morning to night by the crack of a whip. If you did your job, you got to go home and sleep it off before the next morning. If you couldn't take it, they'd throw your carcass off the property and hopefully your wife was waiting to take it home." Workers Rights And Disaffection By somewhere in the 51 BPC, things had become bad enough that Morae, and workers like him, began to lobby for rights to the aristocracy, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. Later in that year, the death of steel worker Jimmy McKenzie due to an on-the-job accident resulting from faulty equipment, and the callous manner in which it was handled, gave Morae just the edge he needed to organize the workers and overtake the Josch Borrack Mill, turning it into a covert base of operations for what would, by the middle of 50 BPC, become the headquarters for the budding criminal organization known as the Knights of the Omerta. Rise To Power In the next five years, the Knights ratified their code of ethics and refined their tactics, transforming from a worker's movement gone awry to a powerful and influential power behind the aristocracy. By 45 BPC, at the age of 50, Morae found himself the head of a force more powerful than the Merchant Council. Every major official was in their pocket, and more young men were joining the Knights than taking part in legitimate vocations. Death And Legacy However, the crime boss was not without his regrets. Between the organization's decidedly malicious bent and that power's corruption of his offspring, Jimmy, Tordoh, and Ceannia, he began to feel that his impact on the world had been a source of evil. Ironically, Morae himself would become gravely ill in his final years and develop breathing difficulties resulting from smoke inhalation during his days as a mill worker. He died in early 35 BPC, after a long battle with the illness. His final words, according to James Morae, were, :"This thing that I have created. For better or for worse, it will outlive me. The Knights was never about one man, and if it ends up hurting the men it was meant to help, that'd be a real shame." Donighi's predictions, as it turns out, were eerily accurate, given the brutality that has ensued since his demise. Torn between the three possible heirs, the Knights of the Omerta became segregated into three districts throughout the city, each district having sub-bosses. It remains to this day the single greatest criminal threat in Phoenix City. Category:Characters Category:Villains Category:Ash City